As one of the nation's leading academic research centers, the University of Pittsburgh has both an[unreadable] opportunity and an obligation to take the inherent risks associated with reengineering a successful research[unreadable] enterprise to undertake a transformative initiative that will result in the development and advancement of[unreadable] clinical and translational science as a distinct discipline in western Pennsylvania. The University is committed[unreadable] to transforming its culture, environment, and structure to achieve this goal by forming the Clinical and[unreadable] Translational Science Institute (CTSI). The CTSI will serve as the integrative academic home for clinical and[unreadable] translational scientists across the University's six health sciences schools; Carnegie Mellon University; the[unreadable] University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), one of the nation's largest and most financially successful[unreadable] academic health care systems; and the region. The CTSI's primary focus is to develop, nurture, and support[unreadable] a cadre of clinical and translational scientists by building on the University's existing clinical research training[unreadable] programs (Roadmap K12, K30) to establish a comprehensive program with activities ranging from early[unreadable] research exposure for high school students to advanced doctoral programs. Through "integration and :[unreadable] innovation," the CTSI will excel in the development of new biomedical knowledge and the translation of that[unreadable] knowledge from the basic and preclinical research settings to individuals, communities, and health practice.[unreadable] The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh's General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and the four sites of the[unreadable] University of Pittsburgh GCRC will be reengineered, integrated, and augmented by new CTSI communitybased[unreadable] and minority health focused centers to develop efficient, accessible, and widely used participant and[unreadable] clinical interaction resources. The CTSI Center for Clinical and Translational Informatics, which is developing[unreadable] translational research informatics tools for the NCI Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid Initiative, will infuse[unreadable] informatics tools into the entire lifecycle of clinical research studies and develop an online collaborative[unreadable] research community. Innovative interdisciplinary research initiatives will be developed through the ten CTSI[unreadable] resource cores and translated to health practice via a novel CTSI community partnership program and[unreadable] through centralization of UPMC's extensive clinical networks. The resulting transformations in the institution,[unreadable] scientist, research, and health practice will improve health locally, regionally, and nationally.